Spain

Cellnex Telecom, the Spanish wireless telecommunications company, has reopened the equity-linked market in Europe with a €200m tap of the €600m convertible bond it issued exactly one year ago.

Spanish political risk is set to spike in 2019 as the country goes to the polls in local, regional, European and possibly national elections during the next six months. But Spanish companies may be ill prepared to work out more flexible funding plans to cope with this, investors and bankers warned this week. Victor Jimenez and Nigel Owen report.

Two troubled Spanish high yield credits, supermarket firm Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación (Dia) and energy group Abengoa, have started the year with new schemes to reassure investors. More Spanish companies may want to follow suit, sources said, as the country faces a surge in political risk in 2019.

News that the European Central Bank was "reflecting" on reinstating its Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations for a third time (TLTRO III) sent a cheer through the financial institutions bond market this week. Banking commentators had been expecting some sort of extension for the cheap liquidity programme, now they see it as all but inevitable, writes Tyler Davies.

Spanish supermarket group Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación revealed a new scheme to solve its financial troubles this week, away from the potential debt cut and cash injection recently suggested by its largest single shareholder, LetterOne.

Spanish supermarket group Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación revealed a new scheme to solve its financial troubles on Wednesday, away from the potential debt cut and cash injection recently suggested by its largest single shareholder LetterOne.

LetterOne, the private equity firm that is the largest shareholder in Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación, the Spanish supermarket chain, has drafted a debt restructuring plan for the troubled company that echoes the latest attempt of renewable energy group Abengoa to survive by cutting its leverage.

Shares in Solarpack Corporación Tecnológica, the Spanish solar power generation company, have risen by 8.9% in the aftermarket after it priced its €100m IPO above the bottom of the range.

Almirall, the Spanish pharmaceuticals company, has issued its first convertible bond with an equity-neutral structure, having attracted “strong outright demand” from institutional investors, according to a banker on the deal.

The equity capital market has virtually closed for the year with work focusing on planning deals for 2019, said bankers, although some deals are still getting done.

Repaying funding received under the European Central Bank’s targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) is likely to raise funding costs but, as most Iberian banks have made plans, refinancing risks are limited, according to Moody’s.

In this round-up, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) published 18 new regulations for foreign banks in China, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has not injected money through reverse repo for a number record number of days and Spain and China sign MoU for closer financial collaboration and potential Panda bonds.